Much industrial effort has been devoted to developing ground-engaging tools with a reduced cost to wear life ratio. For example, new material compositions and heat treatments have been responsible for lowering the wear rates of cutting edges for earthworking blades and the tips for penetrating teeth. Moreover, various hardfacing materials have been weldingly applied to the exposed wear surfaces of such tools. Unfortunately, these thin hard facings wear away relatively quickly and it is necessary to apply additional layers at considerable expense of labor, time, equipment and the waste of natural resources.
Particularly promising are those activities relating to the use of composite wear-resistant particles in a tough carrying matrix material. These composite materials are typically deposited on the tool or are made into inserts.
In addition to economic considerations, these composite materials must be located in optimum locations on the tool because they tend to crack or fail by spalling under the severe working conditions frequently encountered by large earthworking vehicles.
The present invention is directed to overcome and improve upon one or more of the problems as set forth above.